Boll-weevil exterminator.



No. 876,612. PATENTED JAN. 14, 1908.. G. W. WATKINS.

BOLL WEEVIL EXTERMINATOR.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 21. 1907.

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PATENTED JAN. 14, 1908.

G. W. WATKINS. BOLL WBBVIL EXTERMINATOR.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.21, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 GEORGE W. /WATKINS, OER'OSEBUD', TEXAS.

BOLLi-i-WEEVIL EXTERMINATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jn. 14, 1908 l xppnmionnaoaberzi.1907. serinnaseaia.

T o all whom it may cof/wem." l

Be it known that LGEOEGE WQWATKINS, residing atRosebud, inthe county ofFalls land State of Texas, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in BollfWeevil Exterminator, for which the following is aspecitication.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in machinesfor exterminating boll weevils, and in its generic nature the inventionembodies a machine which is adapted to pass over the cotton, the maychine having passage-Ways for the cotton to ass through as it is drawnover the ield. ily invention also includes in its generic nature meansfor striking the cotton plant and bolls as the machine is drawn over thesame and thus knock oill the insect and its form, g

which drop either into the machine or under the saine and when droppedunder the machine the weight of my apparatus will crush the insect intooblivion.

My invention also includes means for spraying the cotton with chemicalsin order to destroy the insects thereon, if so desired.

With other objects in view than have been hereinbeiore specified, theinvention also includes certain novel details of construction,combination and arrangement of parts, all ot which will be iirstdescribed in detail, then be s ecifically pointed out in the appended caims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Whichz- 4Figure 1, is a perspective view showing my invention applied for use,Fig. 2, isla central, vertical, longitudinal section thereof. Fig. 3, isa rear elevation of the machine showing the means whereby the parts canbe adjusted to suit the various 'sized plants. Fig. 4, is' a section onthe line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5, is a detail erspective view of one ofthe adjustable rodp carrying brackets hereinafter described. Fig. 6, isa similar view of one of the cloth carrying bars and its attached parts.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters andnumerals of reference indicate like parts in all of the figures 1designates the.' side portions of the main frame of the machine whichare connected at intervals by the cross walls 2, 3 and 4, all of whichare of like construction and to which the bottom boards 5 are secured,the bottom boards 5 having their front edges beveled, as at 5et on theirunder side and being spaced a art to form a passage-way there between, t1e passage-way 6 being wider at the front ol the machine than at therear and the`bottoin boards 5 are provided with divergingw/alls 5d to.form a flared entrant end or mouth to the machine.

Each cross wall 2, 3 and 4 is provided with an yopening 2, 3a and 4,respectively, the

walls of which may be slightly beveled to be slightly wider at the frontend of t-he wall as at 2b, 3b and 4b respectively, so that the'.

lant will lpass readily through the openings in the wal s.

On the rear face of each of the walls 2, 3y

and 4 is adjustably secured a cross bar 7, which is held in place bybolts 8 that pass through apertures 8a in the cross walls., aseries ofsuch apertures 8a. being provided so that thebar 7 may. he adjusted upor down,4

9 designates a cloth or other as desired.

suitablemember secured to the bar 7 to form .a iiap and project throughthe openings in the walls 2, 3 and 4, respectively for a pur-f",

pose which will presently appear.

1() designates bracket mcmlwrs adjustablyl secured to each wall 2, $3and 1, b v bolts 10a,

which pass through a slot 10." in. t-he bracket members 10. A pair ot'bracket members are j. secured to each wall adjacent the ends ofthe bars7 and the brackets of each pair are connected together by a cross rod 11which is held at a distance of several inches to the rear of the bar 7.

The cloth iiap 9 is held between and the rod 11, as shown, and for apurpose which will be presently explained.

12 designates adj ust-able bars which may be secured to each of thecross walls'and'by -means of which the openings in the cross walls maybe made less or greater, as conditions mayrequire, :nljusting apertures12a being provided in the walls to cooperate with' the bolts 12b thatsecure the hair 12 in place.'A

13 designates drag knives secured to the side walls 1 of the machine ateach corner The of the machine to under the ground.

drag knives 13 serve to mark o'll` the course,

the bar 7 i60 thereof and which project beyond the bottomc fumigatingsolution and the outlet valves 16a.

' tached to the plant.l The Weight of the 1 serve to regulate the amountof fumigating solution dropped onto the flaps 9. The inlet valves 16bserve toregulate the air supply to the receptacles as the fluidjpassesout through the outlet valves 16a.

A draft. beam 17 is attached to the front of the machine by means fwhich it can be drawn over the ground and handle members 18 may be also'provided in case the operator desires to walk along as the machine ismoved over the plants.

As the machine asses over the cotton, the cotton is passed t ough theopenin in the Wall 2, the plant being of greater heig t than theopenings is bent over, as it were, until it asses through the opening,the rod 11 servmg to hold the flap 9 against the leaves of the plantduring its passa e through -the opening in the Wall 2. The p ant thenpasses in turn through the Walls 3 and 4 in the same manner, it beingunderstood that as the pliant is dpassed through the machine it Will beocke and ljarred to knock ofi the forms that have been effected by theWeevil, aswell ,asA knock off any weevils which may be atmachine beingin ractice, about 300 pounds, serves to crush t e forms and Weevils that-form under the machine and in so doing prevent thel increasefof theWeevil.A

As heat and sunshine are destructive to the weevil, the machiney acksthe ground solidly as it passes over t e same andV leaves a Smoothsurface, thus letting more sunshine under the plant While the smoothsurface vcreates more heat to destroy the insect.

I have found that in spraying the cotton plant with chemicals with theordinary hand sprayers While the cotton stood straight, .that such sprayhad little or no effect on the weevil, as the chemicals would fa'll onthe top of the leaves and be quickly consumed by the heat of the sunsrays, causing the leaves to blister, thus doing more injury to the plantthan goodand-in order to avoid this injurious action, Ih'ave designed mymachine in such manner that the cotton plant will be bent over and theleaves turned vwith their under sides". into lcontact With the 'flaps 9which spreads the chemicals on the leaves on their under-sides Where thechemicals Will be most effective, and be protected from the suns 'raysand thus not injure the plant. l' Furthermore, by spraying thechemicalson the under side of the leaves the Weevil is more effectivelyexterminated since it usually makes its-abode on the under-side` of theleaf.

u 11 serve to keep the plant-bent verlwhile vthe chemicals are beingapplied to the same at all times. The operation and ac'- tion of mymachine, in detail, is as follows:

The uniform size of bell-worms is about 1 inch in length. They work onthe grown bolls of the cotton plant and are very de.

structive thereto. As my machine passes over the cotton plant, the scentand eii'ect of the chemicals causes the bell-worms to loosen their holdon the bolls, which are being bumped by the machine, as the machinepasses over the same, thus knocking the bollworms and affected bolls 0H,causing them to fall to the ground and to be crushed by the machine, orthey'will fall onthe bottom of the machine toward the back thereof, fromwhich they may be removed in any desired manner. y

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings it is thought the complete construction, operationand numerous advantages of my apparatus Will bereadily apparent to thoseskilled in the art to which the invention appertains.

main frame including side bars and a series of transverse Walls eachhaving openings for the passage of` the plant, combined with means forapplying a fumigant to the under side of the leaves of the plants,substantially as shown and described.

3. A machine of the class described, comprising a main frame havingsides anda bottom and transverse Walls, said Walls and said bottomhaving passage openings for vthe plant, means for adjusting the area or'said openings, a bar carried by said transverse Walls and adapted to beheld across said openings, substantially ,as shown and described. i'

4. A machine of the class described, comprising a main frame havingsides and a bottom and transverse Walls, said Walls and said bottomhaving passage openings for the plant, means for adjusting the area ofsaid Wall openings, a bar carried by said transverse Walls and adaptedto be held across said openings, and a rod held at the rear of said barand across said.' openings, substanv tially as shown and described.

, V5. A machine of the class described, comprising a main frame havingsides and a bottom and transverse Walls, said Walls and said bottomhaving passa e openings for the plant, means for adjustin t e area ofsaid Wall o enings, a bar carried y said transverse Wa ls, a

rod held at the rear o'f saidbar and across said` openin s, an absorbentcloth secured to said bar an passed between said bar and said rod7 andmeans for moistening said cloth, substan- 7. In a machine of the classdescribed, com` prising a main frame consisting of side bars and aseries of transverse walls, each having an opening for the passage ofthe plant, a bottom for said machine having a longitudinal passagethere-through, adjustable brackets secured to one face of each of saidtransverse Walls, a rod joining the brackets on each transverse wall andspaced from said Wall, said rod projecting across the opening insaidwall, and a flap carrying bar also secured to one face of saidtransverse wall to project across the opening thereof, substantially asshown and described.

8. In a machine of the class described, cornprising a main frameconsisting of side bars and a series of transverse Walls, each having anopening for the passage of the plant, a bottom for said machine having alongitudinal passage there-through, adjustable brackets secured to oneJface ofeach of said transverse Walls, a rod joining the brackets on.each transverse wall and spaced from said Wall, said rod projectingacross the openin in said Wall, a flap carrying bar also secured to oneface of said transverse Wall to project across the opening thereof, aflap carried by said flap carrying bar and means supported on the top ofthe transverse Walls for saturating said iiaps, substantially as shownand described.

9. In a machine of the class described, comprising a main trarnevconsisting of side bars and a series of transverse Walls, each having anopening for the passage of the plant, a bottom for said machine having alongitudinal passage there-through, adjustable brackets secured to oneface of each of said transverse Walls, a rod joining the brackets oneach transverse Wall and spaced from said Wall, said rod proj ectingacross the opening in said Wall, a flap carrying bar also secured to oneface of said transverse Wall. to project across the opening thereof, aflap carried by said flap carrying bar means supported on the top of thetransverse walls forsaturating said iaps, and a cutter carried by thesaid Walls of said machine for enterin the ground, substantially asshown and r escribed. l

10. In a machine of the class described, comprising a main frameconsisting of side bars and a series of transverse Walls, each having anopening for the passage oi the plant, a bottom for sald machine having alongitudinal passage there-through, adjustable brackets secured to oneface of each of said transverse Walls, a rod joining the brackets oneach transverse Wall and spaced from said wall, a iiap carrying bar alsosecured to one face of said transverse wall to project across theopening thereof, a flap carried by said flap carrying bar meanssupported on the top of the transverse walls for saturating said flaps,and means for adjusting the side of the openings of the transverseWalls, substantially as shown and described.

GEORGE W. IVATKINS. Witnesses:

J. HOLMES ANDERSON, WM. JUDSON FINKs.

